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Comment by shrikant | Hacker News Reader

Lastly, it’s important to point out that the Kindle does not support the popular, open and free ePub format, which means the Kindle will be unable to borrow from libraries that lend ePub titles.

This is disingenuous, and getting a little tiring honestly now. The Amazon Kindle can read ebooks in the .mobi format fine, which is based on the Open eBook standard [1] just as the EPUB format. (EPUBs may be technically superior to MOBIs, but that's a different issue altogether)

EPUBs can be converted to the MOBI format fairly easily. Inconvenient? Yes. Evil, locked in system? No.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_eBook

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Saying the Kindle does not support ePubs is simply a literal statement. Interestingly, the Kindle will support ePubs soon, and thus libraries that lend ePubs, but the paper was written last year, before Amazon even hinted at supporting ePubs.

It is unlikely Amazon will switch to ePub. What's happening with library loans is that Amazon will mirror in Kindle format the ePub catalogs each library has.

Interesting. I imagined Amazon would update the Kindle firmware to support ePubs in addition to the Amazon content. We'll see I guess.

I thought that too but apparently Amazon is telling publishers they can start submitting books to the Amazon Store "to be listed in the Amazon store in ePub format": http://www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-accept-epub-files.h...

I hope this does in fact mean ePub support is coming in a Kindle update.

Fingers crossed they backport the update to the v1 and v2

The Bookseller is quoting a blog run by known pirates. http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/05/02/the-goodereader...

People who know their rep have not been taken in.

Supporting ePub doesn't mean that Amazon is switching to it.

Can you convert any ePub to the Mobi format? No. Try to convert a DRM-enabaled ePub from an Amazon competitor like Google into a Mobi file, or try to convert a library eBook into a Mobi file. Amazon's Kindle platform is a prime example of an evil, locked in system.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20101206/tc_yblog_tec...

Amazon's own lock-in aside, how can it be blamed for not being able to import others' DRMd books? That's what the (others') DRM is for.

Allowing a standard, open format to work on the Kindle would make sense for users; Amazon currently chooses to disallow it. Imagine having a DVD player that could only play Amazon-formatted movies and not standard DVDs.

Buy an eBook "from Google's eBookstore, you'll be able to read it on your desktop PC, your iPhone, the Nook, the Kobo eReader, the Sony Reader, or a garden-variety flip phone — just not your Kindle."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20101206/tc_yblog_tec...

We can't read Amazon eBooks on other devices, or in applications not authorized by Amazon, which locks users in. Evil.

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